Isro: Indian Space Agency launches first satellite to study black holes as the nation expands its space programme

Isro launched its first satellite to study black holes after 2023 marked a very successful year for the Indian space company.

The agency has ambitious plans for 2024 and has already kicked the year off by sending the country’s X-ray Polarimeter Satellite into space on Monday. This makes India now the second nation to study black holes and other celestial objects using an orbiting observatory.

The new satellite, carrying two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit, will study various astronomical sources of X-rays, and the mission is expected to last for about 5 years. The aim is for the mission to understand the X-ray emission mechanism of various astronomical sources like black holes, neutron stars, and star-forming nebulae.

In particular, it would look into the polarisation of intense X-ray sources in space, which could help better understand the radiation mechanism and geometry of such celestial sources. Isro’s new mission aims to study about 50 potential cosmic sources using its satellite.

India had a historic year for its space programme in 2023, as the agency had a number of successful launches including the groundbreaking Chandrayaan-3 mission landing a probe on the lunar South Pole, and a satellite launched to study the Sun.

After the launch on Monday, Isro chief S Somanath said the space agency is getting ready in 2024 for its highly anticipated first-ever crewed mission to space named Gaganyaan.

Mr Somnath told news agency PTI said: "We are going to get ready for at least 12-14 missions this year. 2024 is going to be a year for Gaganyaan readiness, though it is targeted for 2025. The Gaganyaan mission began with the TV-D1 or the abort mission (conducted in October). We have four such missions in the series. Our target is to do at least two more in 2024. By then, we will have three abort mission demonstrations".